Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash [their] hands when they eat a meal.”
He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand.
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” (Matthew 15:1-2, 10-11 NABRE)
Jesus called out the Pharisees for breaking God's commandments for the sake of their traditions--putting man's rules before God's.
Don't we do this too? It's so easy to twist a rule to our benefit, to change an interpretation, even in subtle ways, to our benefit, and by so doing negating the original purpose and intent of the rule. We need to consciously challenge ourselves about how we accept interpretations, how we consider context, and the sources of our information.
And how do we challenge each thing we hear and are told? We have God's Word as the measure against which we consider the many moral arguments of our times. God's Word includes both the Biblical texts as well as the teaching authority of the Church (called the magisterium). One remarkable reference we can refer to is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It contains a tremendous treasury of insight and guidance we should be using to evaluate the things we are told. If for no other reason, we can be certain of the authoritative nature of the source.
Today, I will remember that I have access to God's Word as a guide when I struggle.
Saint John Vianney, patron of parish priests, pray for us.
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